


And Once More, Unto the Breach

by MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne)



Series: 2019 Tony Stark Bingo [6]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 07:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18633136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/MarvelousMenagerie
Summary: AVENGERS ENDGAME SPOILERS.Summary inside.





	And Once More, Unto the Breach

**Author's Note:**

> Summary: In the end, there is still hope. 
> 
> Written for the Tony Stark Bingo square T2: Denial. This applies to both author and characters...  
> Thank you to 27dragons for their cheer-read & suggestions!! <3

“You call this winning?” Rhodey spits out as he advances on Dr. Strange.

“I do,” Dr. Strange replies, his head held high.

“Rhodes,” Steve warns, putting out a hand.

Steve doesn’t want to stop Rhodey. His mind is spitting out the same question. One way, Tony had said. There had been one way to win out of all the billions futures that Dr. Strange had seen.

With Tony’s body going cold behind him, Pepper and Peter still curled around it, Steve has the same damn question.

_This is winning?_

“No, not this is not winning,” Rhodey insists.

He steps past Steve. The bulk of the War Machine armor is menacing, but the gauntlets aren’t firing up and the guns aren’t targeting, so Steve lets Rhodey go.

If Steve lets his own grief swamp him, he might not be so calm.

“This is not winning,” Rhodey repeats.

“Thanos is gone. Half of the universe has been restored.This reality is saved,” Dr. Strange repeats calmly.

The cool tone of Dr. Strange’s voice irritates Steve. He’s never met the man, but Tony had spoken highly of this medical doctor turned wizard. Steve isn’t sure if he agrees just yet.

“Cassie,” Scott interrupts.

They turn to look at him. Scott looks smaller, though this time because his shoulders are hunched and not because of the Pym particles.

“Cassie lived five years without me. She’s - I’m glad I get a chance, but five years? I’ve missed five years? And I was… I was trying to be there, this time. I was going to be.”

Hope puts a hand on his shoulder.

“People are back, but it’s not the same world they’re coming back to,” Steve picks up. “It’s been a long five years, and you haven’t been here to see it,” he challenges Dr. Strange. “You don’t know how - how difficult it will get, to know that people around you have lived and moved on.”

“Difficult, but not impossible,” Dr. Strange returns.

“If this is your bedside manner, no wonder you don’t practice anymore,” Clint says.

Steve doesn’t bother scolding him.

“I’m glad to have my family back,” Clint says. He plays with an arrow head, not making eye contact with anyone. “But I’m not the same man I was five years ago. And Nat -”

Clint breaks off, shaking his head.

“This isn’t winning,” Clint says.

Steve feels the grief starts to swamp him. Steve looks around at the destruction around the compound. There is still ash blowing in the wind. No, this was not a victory.

“This is better than what it was,” Captain Marvel says as she lands in the circle.

“But it’s not winning,” Bruce says. “This is, this is…”

“Surviving,” Steve finishes.

Steve would know what that looks like. Five years should be nothing compared to the seventy that he’d already experienced, but somehow this wasn’t any easier even when he was on the other side.

“What are we to do?” Thor asks, throwing his shoulders back as he sets aside his exhaustion.

“We still have the stones,” Clint says as tips his head back to where Tony is.

“Again? Really, that’s your plan?” Bruce asks.

“What, you getting sleepy?” Steve asks, but he’s looking to Thor as he says it.

Thor shakes his head, but he’s grinning.

Exhaustion pulls at Steve’s body. He has weariness settling into his bones. It’s been a long time since he’s pushed the serum this far, but what else can he do but continue? He will do this all day.

Whatever it takes. As long as it takes.

“Another bout,” Thor says with a sigh. Then he laughs, something hysterical that shifts into joyous. “Aye, another bout! That sounds like the team I remember.”

“The stones must be returned to their original timelines or we will destroy more realities than just our own,” Dr. Strange warns.

“That’s not a ‘no,’” Rhodey points out.

“Well,” Dr. Strange says, a small smile on his face. “No one said this was the _end_.”

“So, we’re what, doing this. All over… again…” Scott says, eyes wide.

“Whatever it takes,” Steve says.

His gaze catches Thor’s, Bruce’s, and Clint’s. All those years ago in New York, they’d had a victory when Steve couldn’t have imagined one. They won then, and they will win now. Natasha, Tony - Steve won’t rest until the entire team stands here with him or until it’s the end of the line.

Steve feels Bucky and Sam behind him, at his shoulders, and he lifts his head.

“You got a plan, Cap?” Bruce asks, but he steps forward. “Please don’t say ‘smash.’”

“I’ll do the smashing, big guy, don’t you worry,” Thor says. “If we can… I mean, I know Loki didn’t make friends when he was here before, but…”

Steve claps Thor’s shoulder.

“We’ll put together some ideas,” Steve says. There’s the light of hope in Thor’s face, and Steve wants to keep it there. “We can do better than this. We can _win_.”

“We start with Tony,” Rhodey insists.

They turn to where Tony sits, eyes closed and arc reactor dark. The gauntlet still rests on Tony’s hand, and it burns Steve to see it. The power of the gauntlet almost killed Thanos and the Hulk, and did kill Tony. Tony had, once again, laid down on the wire and let the rest of the universe crawl over him. Steve wonders if he’ll ever be able to stop piling regret on top of regret.

Tony. It was never supposed to be Tony.

The stones were too much for one person - too much for any of them. But, Steve thinks, what if they split the stones back up? What if instead of one gauntlet and one wielder, there were six. Could they each wield an infinity stone and use its power as a team? What if they each took a fraction of the power, a fraction of the pain, but had the same goal?

What if they were together as a team from the very start to the final end?

Then they’ll win. Steve is sure of it. Winning means that both Tony and Natasha are standing with him. Winning means a world that can live, beyond surviving. And that means -

“We start with Tony,” Steve repeats, nodding his agreement. “To win, we need all of us. Tony, Natasha - with all of us together, we can win.”

Responsibility and guilt weighs heavily on his shoulders, but it lightens as he looks around the field. There’s exhaustion in the Avengers - _all_ of the Avengers - who are gathered around, but there’s determination too.

Together, they can do this.

Captain Marvel shrugs. “Alright, I’m in. How do we want to do this?”

“You know, I’d like to confirm that Thanos really did destroy the stones from our time,” Bruce says.

“That shouldn’t be possible,” Dr. Strange says. “Not permanently. He may have hid them in different _times_ , impossible to get to without the stones, but the stones can’t completely destroy themselves.”

“Ha! Thanos is such a liar,” Thor crows.

Dr. Strange hums. “It sort of depends on your definition…”

“He’s a liar,” Thor repeats, waving away Dr. Strange’s comments. “Don’t try me with your tricks, wizard.”

“Well, we doing this today or are we going to wait another five years?” Clint asks.

Steve grins.

“Avengers assemble.”


End file.
